[Professorsofteaching] REQUEST FOR INPUT: Wording about Professors of Teaching (PoT) for The CALL

Mon Feb 23 16:53:29 PST 2026

Me too.

Josh

On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:40 PM Jia Chen via Professorsofteaching <
professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:

> I agree with everyone! Please include my name as well if it's helpful.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Best,
> Jia
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Jia Chen
>
> Associate Professor of Teaching
>
> Electrical & Computer Engineering
>
> University of California Riverside
>
> *https://profiles.ucr.edu/jia.chen <https://profiles.ucr.edu/jia.chen>*
>
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:36 PM Catherine Lussier via Professorsofteaching
> <professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>
>> I agree, count me in on the name list if it's helpful.
>>
>> Cathy
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:32 PM Analisa Flores via Professorsofteaching <
>> professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Annie and Todd,
>>>
>>> I agree with Worku. This is important to include. You can also include
>>> my name in your email.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Analisa
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 3:34 PM Worku Nida via Professorsofteaching <
>>> professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Annie and Todd,
>>>>
>>>> Thank you so much for paying attention to this important matter and
>>>> suggesting the change. I just reviewed the attached documents and fully
>>>> agree that the suggested phrase may ensure an inclusive (in terms of
>>>> research types) review for us. Please feel free to include my name in your
>>>> email to VPAP.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Worku
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Feb 22, 2026 at 6:41 PM Annie Stanfield Ditta via
>>>> Professorsofteaching <professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Professor of Teaching Colleagues,
>>>>>
>>>>> *TLDR: *
>>>>> Below please see a proposed email to be sent to the VPAP’s office
>>>>> regarding proposed changes to The CALL. Todd Sorensen (PoT in Economics)
>>>>> and I would like to suggest some wording to strengthen the degree of choice
>>>>> for PoTs in terms of what type of Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement
>>>>> and Activity to engage in. The deadline for changes to be sent to their
>>>>> office is end of business, Wednesday Feb. 25th. If you have any suggested
>>>>> changes to our email and/or other any changes you want to make to The CALL
>>>>> that you haven't passed along yet, could you please send them to us by end
>>>>> of day Tuesday 2/24 (sorry for the short turnaround!)?
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have a little more time and want to read more about this
>>>>> request:
>>>>>
>>>>> *Some background:*
>>>>> We were happy to see that the VPAP sent out some FAQs (attached) to
>>>>> better inform chairs about the roles of Professors of Teaching and of our
>>>>> review process. One concern we had was that some of the language could be
>>>>> interpreted as de-emphasizing the option of disciplinary research as a
>>>>> contribution to "Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement and Activity”.
>>>>>
>>>>> Specifically, the second page of the FAQ (FAQ1) has a bullet list of
>>>>> examples of "What types of scholarly or professional activities are
>>>>> valued?” Initially, disciplinary research was not included as an example.
>>>>> However, in an updated draft of this document (FAQ2), "Traditional
>>>>> disciplinary research or presentations” was added to this list.
>>>>>
>>>>> In addition, we feel that the last paragraph on the first page
>>>>> de-emphasized this path for PoTs:
>>>>>
>>>>> "Traditional disciplinary research is not required. However,
>>>>> Professors of Teaching are expected to engage in scholarly or professional
>>>>> activity related to teaching, such as pedagogical scholarship, curriculum
>>>>> development, or educational leadership."
>>>>>
>>>>> We felt that the spirit of valuing traditional disciplinary research
>>>>> would be better expressed by the paragraph below; we have gone forward with
>>>>> the spirit of “what we wish the FAQ had said” to make our suggested changes
>>>>> to The CALL. We are not trying to get the FAQ document edited, but wanted
>>>>> to note this for possible future use.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Professors of Teaching are expected to engage in *scholarly or
>>>>> professional activity*, which may take different forms. Traditional
>>>>> disciplinary research is *not required* but such work is valued in
>>>>> the merit and promotion process. Additionally, activities such as
>>>>> pedagogical scholarship, curriculum development, and/or educational  leadership
>>>>> are valued in this category."
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *Proposed Email Draft:*
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Dan,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for valuing the role of PoTs, and the broad set of potential
>>>>> contributions to Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement and Activity”
>>>>> that is valued in our roles. We especially appreciate the intentionality in
>>>>> sending around an FAQ document on this, and on adding "Traditional
>>>>> disciplinary research or presentations” as a bullet point item in the list
>>>>> of “What ˚types of scholarly or professional activities are valued.”
>>>>>
>>>>> We would like to suggest the following changes to The CALL to reflect
>>>>> the spirit of a broad interpretation of Professional and/or Scholarly
>>>>> Achievement and Activities (including traditional disciplinary research or
>>>>> presentation) that will be valued in our review process:
>>>>>
>>>>> Page 37; 4b: add in parentheses at end of line “(this includes both
>>>>> pedagogy-related and discipline-specific research)”.
>>>>> Similar wording being added to #2 on pages 1-2 of the "UCR Guidelines
>>>>> for Professor of Teaching Series” would also help emphasize this point.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best and thank you for your consideration,
>>>>> Annie Ditta & Todd Sorensen
>>>>> [and anyone else that wants to add their name!]
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> *Annie S. Ditta, Ph.D.*
>>>>> Pronouns: she/her/hers (what's this?
>>>>> <https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why>)
>>>>> Associate Professor of Teaching
>>>>> Distinguished Teaching Professor
>>>>> Department of Psychology
>>>>> University of California, Riverside
>>>>> LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anniesditta
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Professorsofteaching mailing list
>>>>> Professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu
>>>>> https://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/professorsofteaching
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Worku Nida, PhD
>>>>
>>>> [he/him/his]
>>>>
>>>> Associate Professor of Teaching
>>>>
>>>> Department of Anthropology
>>>>
>>>> University of California, Riverside
>>>>
>>>> Email: worku.nida at ucr.edu
>>>>
>>>> "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
>>>> world," Nelson Mandela
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